Crafty Lizzie

Forever Friends Forever

Yesterday I continued my quest to use some of the amazing craft supplies with which I have not yet gotten a chance to play. (Let's not talk about just how many amazing craft supplies are currently in that very category. In fairness, until very recently I never had a moment to myself, let alone to fool around getting crafty.)

I've been having a love affair with My Favorite Things' dies -- they have the most fantastic collection of standalone and sentiment dies that just make me giddy. Yesterday I was bound and determined to make something cute with this Forever Friends Circle Frame die. I had a shaker card in mind and also knew I wanted to use some of this Doodlebug Cute and Crafty paper. The paper patterns in the pack are all so awesome, I had a very hard time picking out a piece to use -- and when I did, I decided to make one card using each of the two sides of one of the pieces of paper. (Does that make any sense?) A single piece of the 12"x12" paper has the heart pattern on one side, and the plaid on the other.

When I cut the frame out of each piece of patterned paper, I realized that I needed to cut additional frames out of solid paper to make the "forever friends" sentiment really pop -- it was lost in the busyness of both patterns. 

I made this shaker card first. It's a basic shaker using random sequins from my huge collection of shaker bling. I found that Lawn Fawn's Rainforest card stock provided a nice, coordinated contrast with the hearts background. I won't get into the various struggles I had with figuring out how to get this to work as a shaker card. It was easier than I thought, and I overthought it. Now I know for next time!

Next I made this simpler card, using an old-school wood-mounted rubber stamp from way back when Elzybells (from the UK) was making rubber stamps. I always loved their images, and occasionally scour eBay to see if I can find any that I don't yet have. Anyway, I colored these two friends with a variety of Copic markers; I didn't note the colors so I can't record them here. For the frame on this one, I used Lawn Fawn's Cilantro card stock. I also used a wee bit of Stickles, in Glam Pink, on the bow in the blonde girl's hair, and I used a Quickie Glue Pen and prism glitter at the girls' feet.

I am not sure what to do with the two frames I cut out from the patterned paper, so for now they are just lingering on my desk, under my computer stand, in case inspiration strikes.

Good Vibes Only

This summer, when Ellen Hutson released this Good Vibes Only die, I knew I had to have it. Except it was a "hot foil" die. What? I did a little research and determined that I needed to purchase additional, relatively expensive equipment to get into this hot foil game, and I decided to take a pass for the time being.

Then I kept seeing hot foil mentioned *everywhere* on the crafty sites and blogs. In early October of 2021, on World Cardmaking Day, I purchased from Spellbinders the Glimmer Hot Foil Machine... and I also went aheads and bought the Good Vibes Only die from Ellen Hutson. And until this past weekend, neither the machine or the die had been used. On Sunday I decided it was time to figure this thing out. It was trickier than I expected, and I'm still getting the hang of it, but practice will make perfect!

For both cards I used the Glimmer-branded gold foil.

For this first design I used Honey Bee Stamps sunburst background stencils (a trio, sadly discontinued), Pinkfresh Studio inks, Taylored Expressions blender brushes, and miscellaneous bling I had lying around.

For the second design I used a Simple Stories stencil, Pinkfresh Studio inks, Taylored Expressions bitty blender brushes, and then a wee bit of Stickles in Crystal on the pineapples' leaves.

I prefer the second one -- just love the pineapples along with that awesome sentiment. :-)

 

 

Birthdays Are the Best!

I had the most amazing time at Crop on the Cape last week! It was the third time I have attended this amazing event in person (and I also attended it virtually in March 2021), and I plan to keep up the tradition for many more years!

This time around I took six classes, which ended up accounting for much of my time on Friday and Saturday, but during the "in between time" I crafted up a storm building a stash of birthday cards! I am always running out of birthday cards. I keep a perpetual calendar and send birthday cards to at least ten peeps each month, and in some months (like May) many more, so my stash is always in need of a restock. In total I made 32 cards similar to the two variations I've posted. They aren't perfect -- the die stuck a bit in the upper left corner and I didn't bring a stabby tool (what do you call those things?) so I used my scissors instead and wasn't as careful as I could have been. ;-) Ah well. They don't have to be perfect; they just have to be cute.

Supplies used: Pretty Pink Posh images, dies, and bling; Simon Says Stamp! sentiment; Lawn Fawn paper (sadly discontinued), prisma glitter, and Jet Black ink pad; Copic markers W4, W2, BG0000, BG53 Y02, YG05, RV21; 3M foam tape; Tombow adhesive; Quickie Glue Pen

Thank You for Being a Friend

Like any good crafter I've managed to accumulate (hoard?) more sequins and shaker bits than I could possibly use in a lifetime, and so I decided it's time to start making shaker cards! I've also been accumulating (hoarding?) awesome sentiment dies from My Favorite Things and I thought -- let's put these things together!

This design was a bit fussy, not going to lie. I'd do something different next time around. The little bits that were cut out from the letters (like, the inside of the little peaks of the As, or the inside of the O, for example), to me, had to be added back in, so I glued them *just so* onto the card base before assembling the card. A better way? There has to be. I was thankful for my picker-upper tool (what is that called?).

Supplies: Lawn Fawn Flower Market paper, MFT die, acetate, random sequins, 3M foam tape, Tombow tape runner

P.S. Must work on photography skills. ;-)

Let the shenanigans begin!

In April 2019, as I was preparing to leave one job (and institution) for another, I ordered these beautiful personal calling cards from Paper Source; on each is printed my name, address, email, cell, and blog address. In April 2019 my blog, this very blog, had been long neglected, and my putting the blog address on these calling cards would surely -- so I thought -- motivate me to actually keep the blog alive because as I transitioned from one job to another, I shared these calling cards with many contacts. With these calling cards I was committing my future self to maintaining this site.

Well, it's clear how this plan shook out. I can count on one hand how many posts I've done since April 2019. Yeah, sure, there was a little pandemic thrown in there, but still -- sigh.

Now it's March 2022 and I have just left that new-in-spring-2019 job... to take a break, the first actual break of my adult life, one that's been needed for many years. As I embark on this break I find myself again reaching into that stash of calling cards, still with this blog address on them, to share my contact info with people I will no longer see in the workplace, or really, on the Zooms these days.

Oh man -- I have, somewhat unwittingly, upped the ante with this neglected blog! I'd better add something more recent...!

All the while I've been crafting a good amount, though often at the last minute and under some sort of duress. I haven't even taken photos of most of my creations, let alone chronicled them here. There just wasn't enough time. But now... now maybe I have time.

This weekend I pulled together a small batch of cards for St. Patrick's Day. This really was a small batch -- enough for my closest friends and also for some fellow crafters. I got them into the mail this morning and I hope they arrive on or before March 17. Time will tell!

This stamp set, and its coordinating dies, are favorites from Pretty Pink Posh.I won't share all the rest of the details or supplies here but if anyone 1) actually reads this post and 2) wonders about any of my supplies, just shoot me a message and I'll get back to you. Can we just take a moment to behold the magic and power of Stickles? I used Goldenrod all over this card... took a long time to dry but my goodness... GORGEOUS.